Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Rome, the Campagna | | The Appian Way | | Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814–1902) |
| | | AWE-STRUCK I gazed upon that rock-paved way, | |
| The Appian Road; marmorean witness still | |
| Of Rome’s resistless stride and fateful will, | |
| Which mocked at limits, opening out for aye | |
| Divergent paths to one imperial sway. | 5 |
| The nations verily their parts fulfil; | |
| And war must plough the fields which law shall till; | |
| Therefore Rome triumphed till the appointed day. | |
| Then from the Catacombs, like waves, upburst | |
| The host of God, and scaled, as in an hour, | 10 |
| O’er all the earth the mountain-seats of power. | |
| Gladly in that baptismal flood immersed | |
| The old Empire died to live. Once more on high | |
| It sits; now clothed with immortality! | | | | |
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